Thread: Our Academy

Originally Posted by EJWTartanSpur

Pier Larrauri The juvenile is in England to test the club Tottenham in the Premier League. Peruvian 16 years out a second time to try their luck abroad.

According to Ovation, the 16-year-old is being tested in all the 'Spurs', which this year reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Larrauri, owned by Esther Grande de Bentin, was part of the last selection under 17 who participated in the South American Ecuador. In addition, Pier when he was 13 years also was on trial with Bayern Munich.

So he's on trial, in a tournament...I like that. Massimo Lunogo was on trial in the Dallas Cup last spring and was very impressive during it and after that he joined the club. Hopefully this kid has the same success.

The lads lost 1-0 to Feyenoord today.

OS :

Alex Inglethorpe described our Academy's latest performance in Bellinzona as one of their best in tournament football - despite a 1-0 loss to Feyenoord.

The lads had the best of the 60-minute encounter - their second in the 'Tourneo Internazionale' - but were hit by an agonising last-minute goal against the Dutch team.
Coach Alex was particularly impressed with how Under-16 players Kenneth McEvoy, Victor Zapata, Shaq Coulthirst and Alex McQueen coped against much older opposition.
"We've been in something like 20 tournaments now over the years in places like Mexico and beat Barcelona on the way to winning here in Bellinzona (2009) but I would count this performance as right up there with the best of them," said coach Alex.
"We look for two things - the performance and the scoreline.
"At this age, the performance comes before the scoreline because we are all about player development. Obviously as they get older, the scoreline means everything.
"This was an excellent performance taking into consideration the age difference between the teams. We had the better players on show.
"We were in control right up until the last minute when Feyenoord hit an unstoppable winner into the top corner.
"We had chances. Victor went through, managed to skip around the goalkeeper but fired into the side-netting from the angle. Kenneth McEvoy also went close and was a constant threat, but I wouldn't want to pick out individuals. This was an outstanding team performance, I was very proud of them."
The lads final group game is against Boca Juniors on Saturday night.
Spurs: Archer, McQueen, Barthram (Tapping, 10), Luongo, Munns, Hawkins, McEvoy, Coulthirst Larrauri (Zapata, 45), Day, Stewart.

Possible Line Up
Archer,
Barthram (Tapping, 10), Stewart, Day, McQueen,
Luongo, Munns, Hawkins, McEvoy,
Larrauri (Zapata, 45)
Coulthirst

Four under 16's versus Under 19's !

We lost 2-0 against Boca Juniors yesterday as well.

Our Academy squad face Benfica in their final match of the 'Tourneo Internazionale' in Bellinzona, Switzerland on Monday.

They will play-off for seventh and eighth place in the prestigious event after suffering a 2-0 defeat in their final group match on Saturday.

Group match three - Spurs 0-2 Boca Juniors

Once again, coach Alex Inglethorpe was far from downhearted after Saturday's loss against the famous Argentinian team.

Boca Juniors did the damage early in the 60-minute encounter with goals after 10 and 15 minutes of the first half.

"We more than held our own again but the difference was in the penalty box," reported Alex from Switzerland.

"We created a few good chances and didn't put them away. They created a couple of half-chances and were ruthless.

"That's a key difference in the age groups. We're the youngest squad out here with a number of Under-16 players in an Under-19 tournament. Some of the players we're up against are three years older and they have that extra experience, especially in terms of taking chances.

"Of the three group games, I'd only say we were disappointed with the second half against FC Basel. Other than that, the lads have been excellent."

Spurs: Archer, McQueen, Lawrence, Yeboah (Ekong, 55), Day, Luongo, Tapping (McEvoy, 45), Munns, Zapato (Larrauri, 45), Coulthirst, Stewart.




Group match two - Feyenoord 1-0 Spurs

Alex Inglethorpe described this performance as one of their best in tournament football - despite a 1-0 loss to the Dutch team.

The lads had the best of the 60-minute encounter but were hit by an agonising last-minute goal against the Dutch team.

Coach Alex was particularly impressed with how Under-16 players Kenneth McEvoy, Victor Zapata, Shaq Coulthirst and Alex McQueen coped against much older opposition.

"We've been in something like 20 tournaments now over the years in places like Mexico and beat Barcelona on the way to winning here in Bellinzona (2009) but I would count this performance as right up there with the best of them," said coach Alex.

"We look for two things - the performance and the scoreline.

"At this age, the performance comes before the scoreline because we are all about player development. Obviously as they get older, the scoreline means everything.

"This was an excellent performance taking into consideration the age difference between the teams. We had the better players on show.

"We were in control right up until the last minute when Feyenoord hit an unstoppable winner into the top corner.

"We had chances. Victor went through, managed to skip around the goalkeeper but fired into the side-netting from the angle. Kenneth McEvoy also went close and was a constant threat, but I wouldn't want to pick out individuals. This was an outstanding team performance, I was very proud of them."

Spurs: Archer, McQueen, Barthram (Tapping, 10), Luongo, Munns, Hawkins, McEvoy, Coulthirst, Larrauri (Zapata, 45), Day, Stewart.




Group match one - FC Basel 3-0 Spurs

The lads actually started brightly in their opener on Thursday but goals either side of the break put the Swiss side in pole position.

Alex reported: "We started well but you always know that you need to take a chance when you are on top.

"Basel opened the scoring after 20 minutes with a decent header from a cross and the key moment came early in the second half when a speculative shot from about 25 yards took a big deflection and left goalkeeper Jonathan Miles helpless.

"They then caught us late for the third goal as we were pushing forward trying to get a goal back.

"This tournament is a great experience for what is a young squad, we're probably the youngest out here. Basel were a lot older than us and that makes a difference at this level.

"Having said that, we more than matched them in terms of possession, so I was happy with that."

Spurs: Miles, Lawrence, Ekong, Stewart, Barthram, McQueen, Luongo, Tapping, Munns, Larrauri, Zapata. Subs used: McBride, Hawkins, Coulthirst, Day.

Originally Posted by rossdfc

We have a player called Yeboah and a player called Ramires...hehe

By chance did he score an amazing volley.



I love a bit of Yeboah.